Presently Absent
by Sinful Psycho
Summary: It was supposed to be a simple mission: travel to a cave at the outskirts of Konoha, find and take a scroll, and go back home. What she wasn't told, however, was that by taking the scroll- she would become invisible to the living and would only be able to interact with the dead.


Sakura wasn't sure what to feel about the mission given to her. It was a simple find-and-take, a mission any chunin could do. She was already a jounin, and she was inwardly annoyed when her mentor called for her in her office to give her the task. It was supposed to be an A-rank, which was kind of baffling, since it was a bit _too_ easy for it to be ranked that high. Tsunade gave it to her specifically for that reason- it was suspicious.

Her team mates kept on complaining, asking her why they weren't joining her in her mission. She shrugged in reply, telling them it didn't require a three-man team, as it was to simply fetch a scroll. They pestered her for details, which caused her to be more annoyed, and resulting in both of her team mates sporting bruises. She told them they didn't have to worry, knowing them enough to know that they only did that not because they were envious, but because they were worried.

She was accompanied to the gates, where she left for her journey. She was given a week to find the scroll and take it back, which made her question just how far the cave where the scroll was would be. Stated in the mission scroll, it was to be somewhere at the outskirts of Konoha, which really wasn't that far. Which meant it wasn't the matter of it being far, but of it being hard to find.

As she leapt from branch to branch, she looked around for possible places the scroll could be hidden in, dropping down from trees and landing on the forest ground to look inside caves for any sign of it.

The pinkette sighed, fastening her pace. She wanted to finish this as quickly as possible, the thought of boasting to her team mates that she managed to finish a supposedly week-long mission in a day or two was making her excited. She and her team mates had this ongoing competition of who-could-finish-what first, the recent win going to her blonde team mate for being the first one to finish a bowl of ramen.

She wasn't at all surprised at his achievement. She didn't even bother to put up a fight, and neither did Sasuke. They already knew who would win. They just watched the whiskered-male in disgust as he practically inhaled his bowl, ignoring him as he yelled in triumph once he finished. He kept on rubbing his win on their faces, which made Sakura all the more determined to win this round. So far, she was the first to be given a mission, so she had to wait for the two to receive theirs and finish before they could decide on the winner. Which was totally going to be her.

As the sky darkened, Sakura moved to the last cave she'll be inspecting that day.

Her mood brightened considerably as she finally spotted the said scroll, the item placed on a rock inside the cave. She skipped towards it, a smug grin in place as she picked it up. Quickly turning back towards the cave's entrance, she ran out almost giddily with the scroll in hand.

Only to fall on her behind as she smacked right into a person that was _previously not there_.

A face she has only seen on textbooks looked down on her, surprise evident on his face as he blinked.

Sakura was shocked to her core, not sensing the other not-supposed-to-be-there-nin. He wasn't even supposed to be _alive._

The man was still looking at her, a calculating glint in his eyes. The pinkette stared right back, at a loss. Muttering a "Kai!", nothing changed. Pinching her thigh, nothing happened. She was still sprawled on the ground, which she finally noticed and hastily moved to stand up, causing the male to tense and step back.

They stared at each other for a long time, Sakura uncertain and the man confused. Then someone popped up— _popped up_ —beside the male. The new person seemed to notice the tension, turning to Sakura to wave hesitantly, eyes widening and smiling brightly when the newcomer noticed the pinkette's eyes follow his hand's movement.

"Hello..?" He said, unsure.

Sakura promptly fainted. There was just no possible way that the Shodaime and the Nidaime were in front of her in flesh.


End file.
